God's Messengers Devo

God's Messengers

22 May 2009

by: Sharon Glasgow

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." I Peter 4:10 (NIV)

God uses His people as messengers of hope to those in need. Every dark storm I have been through is chronicled by someone God sent to help me through it.

This past year our family experienced extreme hardships: our daughter and her husband's baby died at birth; six weeks later she was in the hospital hemorrhaging from complications of the birth. We experienced financial stress. A dear friend of ours lost her job, found out she had cancer and needed a place to live, so she moved in with us. We had a fire on our property that burned down barns, fences and animals. We had a flood in our house…and this w as not all! I cried out to God for help. He heard my cry and sent helpers.

I can imagine God sounding the alarm in heaven when we pray for His help: the angels standing to attention ready for their ministering orders, and the Holy Spirit quickly nudging people in the path of the needy saint with urgency and direction. The ones who have become accustomed to obeying the Holy Spirit's leading quickly follow and run to help.

When we were going through our hardships, our help came in various forms through different people. Some sent money, others prepared meals, some helped with the funeral. One friend came and cleaned our bathrooms; others sent notes and cards of encouragement with verses that spoke God's promises of hope. Friends came and helped remove rubble from the fire, while others sent gift cards to help us get through, and some even helped anonymously. Every act of grace was needed and got us through our darkest of days.

In the Bible, there are many examples of people who helped serve others faithfully. In Acts 6, we read that Stephen, a man who was martyred, was chosen to serve tables! In Acts 9, Dorcas was full of good and charitable deeds. In Exodus 17, Hur held Moses' arm up and the battle was won. These are just a few of the servants mentioned in the Word who helped others.

God watches the servants' hearts that follow the call and sacrifice for the needs of others, and He is well pleased. I believe all of Heaven watches and applauds the one who carries out God's assignments. God commands everyone to serve others, but not everyone moves to action when nudged by Him.

Everyone has different abilities to help with - never underestimate what your ability is. God created you to use your ability for His glory for His people. Many people are going through hardships today. There are people in need living next door to you, working with you, going to church with you. Strangers that you meet and even your own family may be th ose who need help.

God's words tell us to be constantly alert for what God wants us to do. It is required that we show love in action - not just in our words, but in deeds and in truth. When we wake in the morning, let's ask the Lord to help us hear His voice more clearly, to have spiritual eyes to see, and to give us His ability to carry out the mission He has for us this day.

I will be forever grateful for all the grace given to our family this year. After this year, I see the urgency to keep my eyes open to God's call to helping daily. Can you imagine what the world would look like if we all obeyed the call to serve others daily?

Dear Lord, I want to be faithful when You call me to help someone. Help my spiritual eyes and ears to become more acutely in tune with Your leading. Help me not to be so controlled by my own plans that I miss Your assignments. Thank You Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Power Verses:
John 13:35 "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (NKJV)

Hello!

Oh man, I am really behind! :( I have been telling myself for WEEKS to post some pics on here and to write a little tidbit here and there about what's been going on, but I STILL DON'T POST! :(
Well, here I am...
I need to write some things about Rachel first. She's the reason I started to blog anyhow, as a way to document her growing up. First, the last few days she's been helping me get breakfast ready (where's my baby?); she takes out the cereal from the bottom shelf, she gets a spoon for each of us and she asks me what else I need! ;) I was thinking, man, in a few more months or so, she's going to be self sufficient (for breakfast at least) and more things are coming fast! Where's my baby? I guess, I've been asking that out loud A LOT lately because she's been telling me, "Mommy, I miss me being little." "I want to be a baby again, GOO GOO GAGA." I tell her that I am just remembering when she was a baby, but I want her to still grow and be a big girl and to keep learning new things! ;) She's so sweet!
Second, she has just grown taller in these last few months. She still weighs about 30 lbs and is over 3 feet. I don't know the exact measurements right now, but I can see in her pants that she's growing (the are fitting like high-water pants)! ;) She can fit into many of her 24 mos and 2T clothes (of course they are a bit short) and 3T. She is also wearing 4T pants (the shorts are too big at the waist). She's so skinny!
Third, I've been schooling Rachel a little each day to get her ready for preschool. We're praying that she'll be able to attend Oak Hills Preschool next year. I know she will do well, but as a teacher, I am finding that I didn't do all that I wanted to do with her while I am home with her! I don't know if all mother go through this (especially former teachers) , but it's hard to teach your own child! I know that it's because I want to MAKE her do something and when she becomes lazy or doesn't want to comply, then I want to get after her. As a teacher, I saw how kids behave differently with their teacher rather than their mommy. I can see how it is the SAME way with Rachel and I! I know if I could home school, it would be different. But right now, she's still little and wants to see how "far" she can go before she really pushes my buttons. It's a mommy vs. child thing, I guess! I am not pushing her SO hard that she doesn't want to learn, but there are times that I want to MAKE her do things and she is just NOT! ;( Oh well, that goes with parenting. :) I love her to pieces!

Well, I had some pics from when my brother, Lee, visited in March... but they are uploaded to my laptop, and I am on our desktop right now. Maybe, I'll get those up soon! He came home to recover from her MOHS surgery done in VA to remove the cancer that had spread on his chest. He has about a 6-8 inch scar on his chest, but he's healing nicely. He (and the rest of us) were really shaken by the scare of CANCER, but GOD IS SO GOOD! HE has given us total peace throughout the whole process. We and many, many other people were praying for the cancer to be gone and GOD has answered that!!! Lee has totally seen that he needs to continue to be in a relationship with GOD ALMIGHTY. Lee's committed to doing that and WE ARE SO THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THAT!

Isaiah 53:5 (New King James Version) ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

Anyhow, Lee's back home! :) He got home last week, Tuesday, and he'll be here for 19 days! :) YAY! He has recently gotten engaged to Jen! She just got back from deployment (both were deployed on the same boat- USS Roosevelt) about a week ago. Lee asked her to marry him that night that she returned and she said YES! :)
I'm so happy for both of them! They compliment each other very well! :)

CONGRATS LEE AND JEN!!!!!!
Battle of Flowers Parade 2009
Here's Rachel's first bus ride! :) She loved the "BIA" bus ride! ;)

Anxiously waiting for the parade to start! :)
Me, Rachel and Mom


The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band
Gig Em! Whoop!


Daddy and Rachel being silly- after the Aggie Band went by, Ben was ready to go! ;) J/K


Lee watching the parade with our cousin, Jonah and our uncle and aunt. :)

Picture break! :)

Ben's cousin, Danny, was in the El Rey Feo court... he finally saw us as he passed by! :)

I love this pic of my two loves! :)


My cousin, Matthew, was marching in the feature HS band, The O'Connor Panthers! :)
*Since they were the featured band, they were the last ones to march in the parade... by that time, I had gone to the potty and totally missed him! :( I was sad. Ben got a pic, though! ;)
**He's the one smiling holding the sax!


We had a GREAT time going to the parade this year with our family. Ben and I had not gone in a LONG while (maybe 5 years) and this was Rachel's first time, she LOVED IT! Especially the bus ride! :) We had a big group go together, my parents, Lee, my Aunt Lilia and Uncle Ashley, Uncle Robert and Aunt Gloria and their son, Jonah. We sat right in front of the USO where there was a bathroom and a nice cool, quiet place to sit for a bit. Since my Dad, Lee, Ashley, and Robert were all in the military we were able to use the facilities! :) woohoo!!!
It did rain a bit when we got there, but then the clouds just covered the sun and there was a nice breeze. It was great! It brought back great memories of when I was in the band marching in the parade. Ben too! He was really remembering when he was marching with the Aggie band! :) It was all around FUN!!!

Our cousins came to spend the night with us one Sat. in February. We had such a blast! I didn't take many pics because of all the fun! :) Here they are playing The LadyBug Game so nicely! :)

Rachel woke up her cousins at 5am with a serenade! They were so tired.

She was so excited to have them over ALL DAY AND NIGHT AND MORNING! We had so much fun and the kids really did enjoy themselves. :)Park time! :)

Practicing her Ballet Gloria moves!

So graceful... ;)She likes the new park that we have next to the library. It's geared for 5-12 year olds, but she's getting better at climbing and playing on this equipment (with a LOT of supervision, of course). :)

We went to a carnival at the school that I used to teach for... Rachel wanted to get on this "train ride" (a 4 wheeler with these little cars attached to it. She was happy when she took off, but was crying by the end of it. I felt bad that she got scared at the end, but was glad that she tried it in the first place! :)



Am I a bad mother for taking pics of her crying, instead of stopping the man driving and consoling her?